‘From the hot bed of choreography, Trisha Brown has emerged an uncontested leader of new modern dance, creating works that reflect and influence society-and always send her audiences home thinking’ Boston Herald

American choreographer Trisha Brown has been a dominant force in contemporary dance since the 1960s. An exceptionally limber mid-sexagenarian with a curly mop of salt-and-pepper hair, Brown is a longstanding friend and artist of Umbrella. She returns this year with a triple-bill that dips into the past while focusing on more recent aesthetic concerns.

Brown considers the quartet Geometry of Quiet ‘the first convergence of my abstract background with the new-found affection for emotion, narrative and psychology that I’ve been engaged with in opera.’ One of her chief choreographic interests was two people forming a single entity. Sometimes the second person interrupts the first’s progress, or a third closely inserts himself into a duo. The idea, Brown reveals, is to create a moment of stillness in which a shape is held in order that it can be looked at longer.

As non-events go, Monday night's Dance Umbrella appearance by the Trisha Brown company went further than most. Brown is one of the Earth-mothers of post-modern movement and the "what is dance?" shenanigans that occurred in New York's Judson Church during the 1960s. Austerity was all, at that time, and it remains tiresomely so with Brown's triple bill.

The once-radical American choreographer Trisha Brown probably alienated as many people as she attracted with her choreographed version of Schubert's Winterreise at the Barbican last month; but it was not right to compare that with her dance choreography. More recently, she danced a light, ghostly solo at the Dance Umbrella gala. Again, at 67, she is hors de combat.

BECAUSE this year’s Dance Umbrella festival is celebrating its 25th birthday, the programming has a retrospective feel. Old friends and favourites from the world of contemporary dance are appearing in London to mark the event. On November 7, the actual birthday, the featured attraction will be the Merce Cunningham Company from New York, presenting Anniversary Events in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern. But before then, another titan of American modern dance, Trisha Brown, is at Sadler’s Wells.

Set and Reset (1983) is possibly the most perfect piece of dance that Trisha Brown has made, making it a very dangerous work with which to open a show. Watching its transparent, meticulously crafted choreography is like having a waterfall rushing through your fingers. It induces a trance of pleasure in which every sensory detail sings. The effect is the same however many times you see it, and, while the two newer works in the programme contain breathtaking moments, neither takes us over with the same authority.

This week’s performances at Sadler’s Wells mark the 5th appearance of the Trisha Brown Dance Company as part of Dance Umbrella since the company’s debut in 1983. ‘Set and Reset’ which was premiered the same year is one of the choreographer’s masterpieces and brought international recognition to Trisha Brown as a leader of abstract choreography. Set to a score by Laurie Anderson the dancers make their way across the stage in carefully structured solo-, duo- and ensemble sections that avoid geometrical lines. The weightlessness conveyed by the dancers stays in contrast to the black and white film snippets that are projected collage style onto three dimensional screens above. The combination of score and movement proved quite hypnotic and found myself surprised when it ended.

The recent creation ‘Geometry of Quite’ could not have been more different. Salvatore Sciarrino’s poetic flute music serves as backdrop for a series of intimate duos and trios with the dancers moving through held poses and balances and only occasionally speeding up. Two large pieces of white cloth on either side of the stage are used to hide dancers or serve as alternative backdrop. Although the soft lighting enhanced the overall impression of tranquillity I found my attention wandering after a while. It is probably one of those pieces better watched several times to be fully appreciated. There simply did not seem to be enough movement for my taste.

‘Groove and Countermove’ the final work of the evening shows Trisha Brown’s creativity from yet a different angle. Dave Douglas’s lively jazz score has the whole ensemble let their hair down, dressed in rainbow coloured rather unflattering outfits that contrast with the black and white backdrop of black ink drawings. The energetic choreography plays with the concept of counterpoint between one dancer and the company and between the dance and the music. It shows off the abilities of the 9 superb performances with its witty fluid movements. This piece also ended to soon for my liking.

I would love to see more of Trisha Brown’s work in the future. According to the programme notes the company has initiated the Legacy and Preservation Program, to ensure that future generations have access to her artistry.

Here's the problem with Dance Umbrella 25 years on: the original enfants terribles are no longer terribles and there are no brand new enfants on the block. What this year's festival offers instead is a chance to catch up with revivals of early works and find out what the rebel choreographers did next. Some just carried on, like ageing rock stars; others became so reputable they've ended up in opera.

The evening of Miss Brown’s choreography often lacked a purpose and direction, which created a repetitive show that did little more than kill time. During “Set And Reset”, I found myself noticing the structure suspended above the stage, showing a series of projected images and the fact that the translucent costumes of the dancers highlighted the absence of any under-garments. I could say that these elements detracted from the performance but I feel I would have been distracted either way. Only a few interesting entrances and odd lifts changed its monotonous dynamic. I completely disagree that dancers were in any way “virtuosic”. From my perspective there was little to stimulate the mind or capture the eye, which was not helped by the oversized stage.

My main observation of the third piece, “Groove and Countermove” was the ostracisation of the dancer in grey. Her choreography contrasted with the other dancers’ and there was some interesting use of space and opposition on the stage, which continued this idea. The choreography was slightly more commercial and so in part was more watchable than “Set and Reset” but showed little purpose and a lack of virtuosity. It had all the appeal of a gymnastics display or synchronised swimming but lacked the ‘wow’ factor, especially with the unflattering costumes. Furthermore, the set and music had little to do with the dancing.

I found that the most interesting and accessible piece was “Geometry of Quiet”. The costumes were white and not flattering, but after seeing the piece seemed to help create the sense of purity, as did the angular quality of the white silks that were incorporated into the piece, as dancers appeared and disappeared behind the fluid structure that they created. The choreography focused on how the space and surfaces in and around the human body could be utilised. The dancers were silhouetted, at one point, to emphasise this. The impression created was geometric and organic; and so reflected the impression given by the silks.

The ensemble of pieces did show Brown’s developed style but overall seemed only to be recognised because she revolutionised contemporary dance.

We're always delighted to have people use CriticalDance in new ways. A class of Dance Writing students from Bird College have the Trisha Brown programme as an assignment and will be posting their work here.

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